


The Power That Binds

by Jen425



Series: Long Live The Power (A Power Rangers Rewrite) [2]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017), Power Rangers (Boom! Comics)
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Dysfunctional Family, Family Dynamics, Family Secrets, Gen, Multi, POV Female Character, POV Villain, Ranger!Rita, Secrets, Team as Family, Wow this was not what I planned on writing oops, and making my own backstory, fall from grace, hilariously unrelated tags about family, im kinda taking what I like from the show the reboot and the comics, original character death, villain backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 10:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18892855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Her name is Rita.(Four names-titles Rita has held, and one that she only claimed to use.)





	The Power That Binds

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hey welcome this will probably remain the start of the series even after I begin my bouncy and out of order storytelling style. Well at least until I write Star Squadron.
> 
> I kinda took the best bits of everything we know about Rita (and the Green Power Coin) and put it together in one big mess with a bunch of my own ideas to fill in the gaps.
> 
> Rita’s second name, Rita Ki-Zordon, is part of a naming system for Rangers, based on mentors and sources of power for a given team. It’s a trigendered system, with a 4th title, ka-, to represent say a general like Zordon passing down his duties. Ki- is female, Ku- is male, and Kai- is third gender/NB.
> 
> At the time of the Morphin Alliance, it was rigid, and which title form you got (for instance, Kimberly Ann Hart Ki-Zordon rather than Kimberly Ki-Ninjor. Or Brody Romero Ku-Mick rather than Brody Romero Ku-Nexus) was decided by the oldest living teams’ Reds (leaders) and Whites (connectors).
> 
> After the Z-wave, the United Alliance of Evil was destroyed, which nullified the need for the Morphin Alliance. It was replaced by the looser and more natural Ranger Council and a set of independent alliance of worlds both with and without Rangers.
> 
> Also pay close attention to dynamics within Rita’s Ranger team, and later in Grace’s. It sets up the fate of the Canon set of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, at least during that part of their lives.
> 
> And I just wanted to say that this fic bleeds into my rewrite of Green With Evil. I mean… obviously it does, but that final scene is gonna be from Tommy’s pov, next time.
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading!

_ 1 - Innocent _

 

Her name is Rita. She’s three years old, and her mother is killed by her father’s forces, not that she understands that.

 

Her family is hidden from her lest she join them.

 

Join Master Vile.

 

She is raised, instead, by General Zordon, heading the battle of the recently formed and slowly growing United Alliance Of Evil.

 

Ironically, he is not a Ranger. He just leads them to victory.

 

(She never learns about that first team, his team. It’s a secret due to pain, but it will become a costly one. His team, all gone…

 

Forgotten. Just like the era where the great Zordon Ku-Power had fought for the people by his side in equal amount to the entire universe.

 

When he’d fought like a Power Ranger.

 

But this… this is not his story.)

 

She’s not stupid, of course. She notices the looks everyone sends her way, whenever they face Vile in particular. She doesn’t remember, Isn’t told, but she knows there’s something missing.

 

Someone she has to prove wrong.

 

She asks Zordon about it, what he won’t tell her.

 

“You will learn in time, Rita,” he says. “All things have their place. For now… we’re on Xeliuno, why don’t we do something fun? My people have been allowed break time, after all.”

 

Rita smiles. It’s been some time since she’s spend time alone with her adopted father. He coordinates ten Ranger teams, two of which who are space teams, in the fight against Vile, plus his own non-Ranger coordinating and fighting team.

 

“Okay,” she says.

 

But she doesn’t forget. Never forgets.

  
  
  


_ 2 - Ranger  _

 

Her name is Rita Ki-Zordon, she is 14 years old, and she finally convinces her father to give her the Green Power Coin.

 

Her team are all human or human-passing, as it’s a level 2 human world.

 

Three are from the small planet. The small planet in the system rich with raw materials.

 

And those three? They treat her nicer than any others she’s met. They don’t know the universe, just Vile’s general, who wants to conquer their planet solely for the barren other planets in their system.

 

For them, it’s small, it’s simple.

 

Qero, the Red, calls them superheroes. She’s an amazing leader, if more idealistic that Rita’s had the opportunity to be, growing up in the war, but she’s smart and caring and willing to do what needs to be done. (But only if she’s the one doing the sacrifices.)

 

The Yellow, Awbi, sees them more as protectors. He’s a sweet guy, but he’s also the first to jump into battle, when needed. Unusual, to Rita’s knowledge, for Yellows. He’s also the first to jump to her defense when… whatever it is that’s wrong with her makes Zia and Rex suspicious, after a failed battle.

 

The Black is Kira, who’s possibly the most realistic of the three. He says what they are, soldiers, and he trains and fights and plans like one. He’s secretive and fast and Rita finds herself answering each and every question she’s not supposed to tell the level 2 planet native Ranger. But he’s also the one who listens, the best.

 

They all help her and Zia and Rex get used to the planet. And, slowly, she gains Zia and Rex’s trust.

 

Zia is the Blue Ranger. She was a genius by intergalactic standards, and she always seems chaffed by the limits of the level 2 planet. But she never lets Rita help, except for necessary research in battles that require both magic and technology.

 

Rita gains her trust when she takes what would be a killing blow for asleni biology but only leaves her injured for a week, with the Power.

 

“You didn’t have to do that,” she says. Rita just shrugs.

 

“The team needs you,” she says. “I’m the Sixth, and almost half the team doesn’t trust me.”

 

“We’d… be doomed, without you,” replies Zia. “Without your… magic. And your thoughts… but you know what’s at stake more than any of us, so why did you risk yourself for me?”

 

“Greens are loyal,” Rita says simply. “And you’re my team. That matters more than anything else, even distrust.”

 

Zia starts spending time with her, after that. They get closer, the whole team does, until she finds herself sometimes forgetting which room of the Morphin Alliance base is hers.

 

Except for herself and Rex.

 

Rex, the Pink, is the toughest nut to crack. Because he’s a Pink, a protector, and whatever thing it is, he thinks she’s a danger to the team.

 

He doesn’t trust her when she saves his life. He doesn’t trust her when she enchants her Dragon Dagger so as to control the Dragonzord on the ground for protecting civilians, after Vile discovers the first method of making monsters grow in size. Not when Qero kisses her and then him or when they all stand by Awbi’s bed and  _ pray _ to whatever gods they do or don’t believe in that he wakes up.

 

Not when she rescues him from a nightmare dimension. After that, he’s  _ worse _ , actually.

 

He doesn’t trust her until… well, until she leaves. Until the choice is her Power Coins or her team’s lives, and she makes the right move. She shows up morphed. She gets them out, and then she gives them the coin.

 

As long as she lives, and with the magic she’s cast upon it, no one can break or use the coin save herself.

 

They capture her, torture her for information… but she gives nothing.

 

And then Vile himself comes. She expects pain, but it doesn’t come.

 

“Get up,” he says. “You’re free, now.”

 

Rita needs to lean against a wall, to stand, but she prepares for a fight.

 

“And what are the conditions?” She asks. Vile stares at her.

 

“Simply that you join me,” he says. “I have been looking for you for a long time… my daughter.”

 

Oh.

 

No.

 

It makes so much sense…

 

“I won’t join you,” she says. “I never will.”

 

“Then die,” says Vile.

 

Another week of torture, and then her team finds her.

 

Zia was never the best healer, but Rita can at least hold her own, now, if it comes to a fight.

 

Hopefully.

 

They decided to rescue everyone else, other major prisoners of Vile, those that aren’t evil in and of themselves.

 

But… Rex. He takes a blast aimed at her, one at power enough to possibly kill  _ her _ , judging by how she can  _ feel _ the power, and knowing Vile is her father explains far too much, about her own existence.

 

The Power protects him enough that he’s alive, when she runs to his side. He gives her the Power Coin.

 

“I know,” Rita says, “why you never trusted me.”

 

“I do now, though,” he says. “I trust you to protect them.”

 

“You can’t mean…”

 

“I do.”

 

“We have to go or we won’t get out,” says Kira. Always the practical one. Rita clutches the Pink Power Coin in her hand.

 

They get out, and Rita ends up on a ship with a hero from a planet outside the Morphin Alliance who wears gold armor, as well as a defector from one of Vile’s enemies, known as the Dark Sculptor.

 

“I am sorry for your loss, Ranger,” says the warrior. “My name is Goldar, and Vile destroyed my planet.”

 

Rita can’t meet his eyes, not after learning the truth.

 

“I’m sorry for yours,” she says. “You can call me Rita. And I’m sorry the Rangers can’t always help non-Morphing worlds.”

 

Goldar just scoffs.

 

“Oh we tried to join the Morphin Alliance,” he says. “They didn’t want us.”

 

What?

 

“It’s true,” says the Dark Sculptor. “My planet was refused from the Morphin Alliance, as well. I, of course, found the change enjoyable, but few others did. But my conquered had little use for my more scientific minded abilities, so I left.”

 

“My fa… Zordon would always help—”

 

“Zordon is not the highest force in the Alliance,” Goldar says. “But neither is he as perfect as he presents.”

 

Rita thinks about the secret, her parentage… and she turns her ship towards Zordon’s, rather than her new home.

 

Zordon has no good answers.

  
  
  


_ 3 - Savior _

 

She calls herself Rita Ki-Rex, but he would hate what she’s becoming. She fights with the other Rangers, but she refuses to remain a planetary force. She protects, but she pulls away. Except for her new friends, Finster and Goldar.

 

Eventually, she throws her coin at Zordon’s face. (But by that time she’s already corrupted it with the sheer power of her grief and anger.)

 

“Maybe you can only protect Morphin Alliance,” she says. “But I refuse to stand by, anymore.

 

She was a Pink and a Green, a protector and a powerhouse. In some ways, it still defines her. Perhaps she uses a different weapon than her dagger or her bow, a staff to channel her magic, first into Putties, enlarged clay creatures which fight back Alliance forces, both Alliances.

 

It’s not until she has five galaxies under her control, ruled by people she trusts, that she realizes she’s acting just like the people she’s fighting, and, by then, she doesn’t care.

 

She meets Scorpina around then, Scorpina is young and ready to fight the people who had destroyed her planet, both Alliances. Both of whom had left her home world destroyed in the fight over it. Rita welcomes her with open arms, and Goldar especially helps train her, though much of her style is still inspired by her homeworld.

 

Baboo joins her crew, next. The alchemist is welcomed to the crew, especially by Finster, glad to have someone to talk to about science and Magic’s combination.

 

Rita still misses her team. They’re retired now, she knows, their planet thoroughly in Morphin Alliance territory. They’ve stopped talking to her, and she’s truly sorry, for that.

 

But she’s better than either side. For now, that’s enough.

 

Then Dark Spectre and Vile approach her, together.

 

“Now only you will be endangered by my Alliance,” Dark Spectre said. “You’re worlds will be safe.”

 

“And something is to be returned to you,” says Vile. He holds out a familiar coin with three claws…

 

And Rita takes it.

  
  
  


_ 4 - Empress _

 

Her name is Rita Repulsa, not,  _ never _ truly aligned with him, but enough for her very name to become a threat. She doesn’t use her Coin, but she lets everyone know.

 

She’s a Ranger, devoted to “evil.”

 

Squatt is from an ignored Morphin Alliance planet, who give him in sacrifice, to be allowed under her rule.

 

It would be an insult to say no. He’s a teenager, and not very bright, but he finds a place in the crew, always wanting to help, and he is in fact an excellent warrior.

 

For a time, she allies herself with a Lord, Lord Zedd.

 

He’s smart and versed in similar magic to herself. He understands her like no other, not since her Rangers team.

 

They don’t quite fall in love, but he’s certainly more than just an ally.

 

But she could never agree to his methods of rule and how little he cared for his team. It ends in exactly as much fire as you would expect.

 

The final battle is over Earth, a tiny planet with more potential than any other in the known universe. She takes the planet, because it’s uninhabited yet so incredible, and Zordon and his forces come, as well.

 

It’s her team, but it’s not. The same consumes, but different faces underneath, she knows.

 

Well two can play at that game.

 

Rita takes her Coin. Says the cry (and, making sure to have the action go unnoticed, awakens her special creation, on the moon. Then puts him into sleep.)

 

“It’s Morphin Time! Dragonzord!”

 

Zordon defeats but doesn’t kill her people. She sees Scorpina escape, and thanks small miracles for their existence. She slaughters his, however, for daring to wear the suit of  _ her _ team.

 

And then it’s just the two of them.

 

“Even an Eltarian can’t defeat a Ranger on a planet like this,” she says. “We both know it to be true.”

 

Zordon’s smile is sad, but not defeated, and Rita knows.

 

“But I can try,” he says. Rita gathers the Power and her own magic, to throw him from the dimension and into somewhere trapped. Her blast coincides with Zordon’s, just slightly later, as planned.

 

She lands inside wherever Zordon places her and her people. She can’t feel the Power at all, anymore, but she smiles.

 

Zordon is even more permanently trapped than she is. Pocket dimensions have lids. Alternate dimensions, however…

 

Are harder to escape.

 

And, one day, she will be freed.

  
  
  


_ +1 - Friend _

 

She calls herself Emerald, but it won’t be an identity she truly claims until years later.

 

Rita helps her chosen fend off the Putties she had sent, relishing in the fights she had long since given up, as an Empress. Simple battles. Black and white.

 

It’s been a long time since she was a fourteen year old girl, begging to become a Power Ranger.

 

Back to back, they finds themselves. Tommy is someone she’s looked deep inside of, already. A need to do good tempered by a difficult life. She sees herself in them.

 

She has a feeling that, with time, she could win him over to her side, just like she had been. But she doesn’t have time except for what it will take to create the Shield and tie it to the coin.

 

“I thought I was gonna be destroyed by strange grey men in a park,” the child says. “What were those things?”

 

He doesn’t know?

 

Oh. Right. This stupid class 2 planet thinks her attacks on Angel Grove are fake, still.

 

“Putties,” Rita says. “They showed up with the monsters and the Power Rangers.”

 

Tommy laughs.

 

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen them in action, just yesterday,” they say. “Hey, thanks.”

 

Rita laughs.

 

“It was no problem,” she says. “I like you, child. And I haven’t had the chance to fight like that in… over ten thousand years.”

 

She says it with just enough levity to be seen as a joke, and Tommy just smiles, holding out his hand.

 

“Well, thanks anyways,” they say. “I’m Tommy.”

 

Everyone knows what is to come.

 

(“Emerald Ki-Zordon” will stand beside children, now legal adults despite already having been forced to grow up, but still young, so you…

 

She will stand beside children who she had tried to destroy, locking eyes with the only one among them who knows the truth. And she will join them in the Memorial for Zordon.

 

But Emerald will never truly be her name.)


End file.
